To think this increase in cost is going to break me?

[Yummmyy]

I earn a decent salary. Whenever I go to Tesco for a basic food shop, sone items are going up literally 50p plus within a matter of two weeks. Orange juice was 2.20 for Tesco’s basic, the most expensive 4.30!!

Yes I know orange juice isn’t an essential but when you’re well above minimum wage and have to cut something like that out of your food shop it does make you question what’s the point… anyone else relate to this? I just don’t know where it’s going to end

*and increases profit for butchers?

What is your salary?
Food is not cheap if the prices are going and our wages are not.

Yep, you're not wrong - I'm in Ireland & have watched our grocery bill climb here too.

However, one thing that keeps coming up on this thread is olive oil. That surprised me as it's something that I haven't clocked as jumping in price that much. So I checked the Aldi IE vs Aldi UK websites & many of the olive oils are actually cheaper in Euro than in Sterling - e.g. 1 litre for €5.49 vs £6.29 - which is very unusual as a straight currency swap would have the UK oil costing c. £4.59. So it looks like there is a specific UK factor here too?

Whatever it is, it sucks, and OP is definitely not BU.

I would rather go without something else than give give up olive oil, which is what I’m doing. Less snacks, cheaper pasta, using less olive oil so it stretches.

I agree I looked up this too!! It’s a strange one…however the other difference here is that wages and Min wage/living wage have risen a good bit too. We pay a tiny bit more tax but have no council tax and no water bills.

Yes, black pepper is the height of indulgence.

For Tudor times maybe. Give it a rest!

I cook almost everything from scratch, I buy very little convenience food, and my food bill has at least trippled in the last few years.
Fresh salad items have doubled in price, olive oil has sky rocketed (and all other oils have gone up), the coconut milk I use in curries has almost doubled in price, herbs and spices have gone up, the fruit juice I used to buy has more than doubled in the last few years.

UK here.. Aldi's olive oil used to be less than £3 a bottle last time I bought it a couple of years ago, I stopped buying it when the price suddenly jumped but it was £7.49 in Aldi this week.

It does suck.

Olive oil isn't a necessity so I've swapped to cheaper oils but even sunflower oil has doubled since I switched to it.

That's an insane increase - so tough when you multiply that across a range of products.

I agree with this. I cook mostly from scratch and haven't seen much difference in price.

Mince lamb has gone up a lot so I make beef kebabs instead now.

I do my main shop from Ocado then a few bits from Lidl.

The only thing I don't make from scratch is lasagne as I find it a lot of hassle ans you can buy a 1.5kg M&S one for £8 which feeds 5 of us.

If anything does go up then I adapt my meal plan. I also use a lot of lentils with dishes to bulk them out as they're so good for you and delicious.

While everything has gone up, olive oil has gone up by a huge amount due to conditions affecting the olive crop.

https://www.thetimes.com/money-mentor/income-budgeting/olive-oil-price-uk

Add in the increase due to Brexit plus the factors that are affecting all food and the rise has been astronomical.

You got a full weeks shop, for 4 people for £60? Please tell me what you bought as I really can't see how you'd do that

@Meadowfinch I don't buy processed food either. I also don't buy big brands...

Olive oil has almost doubled
Butter block is more expensive and now only 200g
Halloumi up 50p and down to 200g
Toothpaste up

When people say “Brexit” what is it about Brexit that has actually put prices up?

so for farmers, our costs mainly went up due to Russia invading Ukraine. That’s what sent feed and fertiliser rocketing. The former has stabilized a bit but the latter has stayed high. Electric also went up due to Russia. Water increases aren’t due to Brexit. Staff costs are a huge part of our costs and are increasing massively (eg they get their council tax paid and that goes up). I can’t think of one thing that Brexit has caused for our costs to increase. What am I missing?

I have been reading this post with interest as I think I'm from the same continent as @Truth25

Olive oil has been unaffordable here for a long time. It has gone up somewhat, along with most things, and a general average price for a 1l of extra Virgin olive oil converted is around 12 pounds. Some are even more. This is for an Italian import, but the local brands are similarly priced. Most people do and have just used a blend which is a lot cheaper.

The same with butter. I have only had Kerrygold if it's been offered while eating out, but just unaffordable to your average household. Even locally produced butter is about (converted) 4 pounds for 500g.

These are considered luxuries and not on most people's general shopping list.

We do get cheaper fruit and veg and that is because we grow it here. And we get grade B of them as grade A is mostly exported or only sold in the more expensive supermarkets. But these have all gone up a lot for us too, as we have had bizarre weather which has affected crops. We have gone from drought to floods and all sorts in between which of course pushes up the price for everyone.

But we also have had above average inflation, fuel is up, electricity is up etc. Which all affect the end user.

I assume the pp buys their weekly shop cheaper as perhaps it's only in season items. Real genuine basics that make up meals, but take time.

I do read here often about people complaining they went to the shops and couldn't find berries, strawberries, oranges. These are very seasonal. We would not even consider them them out of season and they aren't really available then either. Like now for eg. The poster who says squeeze your own oranges. We can't even get oranges now. It's summer here and they are a winter fruit. Those that are available have had a storage cost, which is shown in the price.

It seems that people are finding it more difficult to adjust as you are used to having most things available all the time. Which is great, but now the cost of that can't be absorbed as much. And as such is being filtered through.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with beans on toast as a general meal. But I also think social media and keyboard warrior experts make people believe that it is not, and that every meal needs to include hummus and 7 types of nuts and seeds.

It's difficult to change habits though, but unfortunately I do think its going to be necessary for many.

According to the article I posted, suppliers are claiming an increase in ‘bureaucracy and transport times’ so extra staff wages to sort out the import / export paperwork plus extra staff wages for the drivers of the lorry plus possibly needing to buy more vehicles to transport the same amount of goods in the same time.

It isn’t even close to the only reason for the increase but it does exist as a factor.

89p for strawberry jam in Sainsbury's.

Every thread like this starts with "i earn a decent salary" then it emerges op earns about 26k. Or 32k in london etc

Those are "decent salaries" if you are about 26 but the point is you need to work your way up a career ladder to earn more if you want to afford family.

You can't just expect to stay in low responsibility lower paid work forever and live a comfortable family life off it.

You can only have £16k in the bank, and benefits are reduced if you have savings over £6k, so you won’t be receiving anything after selling your home.

Actually they can have six months to sell the house, split it with the ex and then buy another one but only keep UC if they use the money for that reason.

Food has always been very cheap in the UK, when we moved to the UK from Pakistan here food prices were very very similar to what we were paying to the equivalent items in Pakistan. Yes food is now pricier in the UK, but compared to earnings it still isn’t expensive when you look at food prices elsewhere.

Well that's a little unfair isn't it?

Not everyone is in a profession that allows career progression and financial growth at an exponential pace.

It's also a very well documented and well studied fact that women's careers and pay stagnate for socioeconomic reasons that do not challenge men in the same way (children and other caring responsibilities often fall to women)

It's not as simple as "get a better job" or "earn more money" and you are being very simplistic in your thinking on this.

All this is taking aside the vast majority of salaries in the UK does not rise in line with inflation. We pay more for food and utilities and rent and mortgages whilst earning relatively less.

*Well that's a little unfair isn't it?

Not everyone is in a profession that allows career progression and financial growth at an exponential pace*

I don't think that's what she means though. I think she is saying that we need to look at those salaries as low rather than decent.

While food has always been relatively cheap, everything else in the uk is more expensive (compare housing here to France - take out London and Paris to get a true reflection for the majority for both! Also just look at electricity prices in both countries. If you take a car over to france for a holiday it’s been standard advice to make sure you fill up in france before you come back as it’s cheaper. And france isn’t seen as a cheap place to live.)

UK food was always the cheap bit in an otherwise painful budget. Now that’s expensive too.

I only in the last few months started reducing UPF in my diet and honestly it's really expensive to maintain. People on here have mentioned how cheap some items are (jam etc) but have you looked at the ingredients of these products? I totally get that it's all some people can afford but I think food quality is definitely an issue. People get ill eating UPF. Cheap doesn't mean simple ingredients.